ENERGY=[GREATER] CAPACITY TO DO WORK

I was trying to adjust my brain a bit as last night, our teacher, this Librero was some kind of wishgiver as he played my faves with the UPOU band. But since I know this guy a bit and I heart him as a reliable colleague/ community site bud, it wasn't hard for me to just be there as a student.

Libby is a just as gifted and blended brained like Jeggs. Earlier into the Biomodd project we were exchanging about how he will fit in with the team. I was confident his brains would fit but I wondered about his unassuming ways. He himself admittedly labels himself as a 'Syano' (=probinsyano=provincial). He was fondly christened "King" by his followers for a reason. And this I see: that students can easily relate with him and I, as UP faculty with zero knowledge on Gaming and with a bits of grade schoolish Science came to class assured that this teacher's height will not intimidate me for sure! But his beauty, oh well, such as it is. That he can't help and besides I'm quite content with my looks.

Librero's talk on alternative sources of energy +issues related was sufficient to keep my tired body/brain going. Our teacher was able to draw from his obvious area of expertise and personal knowledge. He delivered it in some kind of informative storytelling. I was able to clarify the basic content I needed for me to discern this: my school kids now have the perfect hooks for a third science driven inquiry learning project: What's on Earth?!? - an inquiry into the earth's resources, - how these generate energy

Librero's style is simple as he was getting things across by reassuring us that we do know something and it's his job to clarify a few things, with the goal of having a common perspective: How does energy fit into Biomodd ?

Of course I couldn't think like a scientist even after that interesting video he allowed us to view (and I got a copy for free!) The group talked about heat and how it can be generated and maximized as part of the installation. My mind was somewhere else, though--I was trying to recall Prof. Sol Hidalgo's (UPOU colleague) very own "kinetic molecular theory of learning" This is how I understood it: that learning among a group of adults can be energized and maximized in some kind of chemical-molecular manner.

And this is how I was translating her theory to Biomodd:It's a fact. My classmates and I can never get rid ourselves of this Biomodd talk. It clearly is in our system. It has been a source of inspiration to most --some kind of stored energy to be "kineticized" every time people get into the lab and do work--all these exchanges in our course generate energy--some kind of growing capacity to do work. Work for what and work for whom? Obviously now it has come to a point where it just has to move forward in ways the core didn't predict at all from the start.

But the greater challenge is this: the course has ended and where do we take it from here?

My mind was back to the group as now they were concerned about the purposes of Biomodd and some kind of public statement it seeks to get across. This is what I tried to communicate, to some extent: that Biomodd does not necessarily have to present itself as an art piece meant to issue a single public statement. To my mind, artists may have specific purposes for their art which will not necessarily come across to its viewers. These purposes may even change over time. In the same way, viewers of the art piece will have their own personal take at it. It may provoke an unexpected reaction. Personal meanings may sink in to some a bit much later. It may be even nothing to others. There is however one thing we can try to do as I see Biomodd as a means for people, most of all children to wonder about, to ask questions, to raise eyebrows--just that. The fact that something of this scale shall be displayed at our National Museum is enough to awaken us in different ways.

Hence, one aspect we do have the benefit of showing is this: the people/ process behind the piece-- What's the source energy which propelled the team to get to where they are now? How was this energy utillized in different ways? What energy remains beyond all these? What energy can this installation pass on to the Filipino youth?

The last session of the course has come to an end. Whether we are a renewable remains to be seen or perhaps unseen as individually we are like molecules redefining our identities as we go back to our usual lives. Beyond Biomodd, I ask: will each of us have renewed energy--a greater capacity to do work and love every bit of ourselves and others than before?